This was certainly one of the most expensive systems at AXPONA. Take the source: a $199,975 Transrotor Artus FMD turntable, fitted with the company's 9" TRA-9 Chrome tonearm ($8795) and 12" TRA-9 Ruthenium tonearm ($9995). On one arm sat a DS Audio Grand Master EX optical phono cartridge ($22,000); on the other, a Transrotor MC Tamino ($19,975…
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Before I heard the new Soulution 717 monoblocks ($109,975/each), I spoke with Cyrill Hammer, Soulution’s CEO and chief designer, and Cliff Duffey, president of AXISS Audio. The conversation was illuminating. The listening? Something else entirely.
One Saturday not long before press time for this issue, I received an email from Technical Editor (and former Editor) John Atkinson with the subject line, "20 Years Ago."
"Just read your May 2005 As We See It for the first time in many years," John wrote. "Great stuff!"
Could 20 years really have passed since I wrote that piece? Back then, I was in a different career, indulging my hi-fi passion by contributing to Stereophile on the side; now I'm in my seventh year as Stereophile editor. Then I was still a youngish dude; now I am an oldish dude. "Time flies" just doesn't capture it…
Arcam’s $4999 SA45 aims to prove that “do-it-all” and “high-end” can coexist. For the first time at a show, Jim Garrett, a senior director of product strategy & planning at Harman International, gave a live demo of the British brand’s SA45 streaming integrated amplifier.
The SA45 sports a minimalist aluminum chassis and a nearly 9" color display. The unit includes a 180Wpc (stereo) Class G output stage, an ESS-based high-resolution DAC, an MM/MC phono preamp, balanced analog inputs, HDMI eARC, and full-bandwidth Dirac Live with 2.2 bass management.
Arcam paired the SA45 with…
At AXPONA 2025’s Ear Gear Experience, Manley Labs president EveAnna Manley unveiled a long-rumored project: the company’s Precision Line and Phono Stage. Designed to marry tube tradition with modern functionality, the unit houses 10 triodes powered by Manley’s proprietary switch-mode supply. Behind its sculpted faceplate are six inputs, each assignable for line-level or RIAA-equalized signals, offering up to 75dB of gain.
A single encoder allows cartridge loading from 30 to 960 ohms (with a standard 47k-ohm option) and offers 30–480pF of user-selectable capacitance for MM cartridges…
Aldo Filippelli of Luxury Audio Group brought essentially the same system he showed at the Florida Audio Expo, where Mark Henninger and Julie Mullins filed a comprehensive video report. Familiar or not, the performance was still superb.
What stood out most to me was how different the rig sounded compared with last year’s AXPONA setup. This year, Filippelli showcased Estelon Extreme Mk II loudspeakers ($296,000/pair) driven by four Vitus SM-103 monoblock amplifiers ($81,000/pair). Completing the system were a Vitus SL-103 preamp ($42,000) and SD-025 DAC ($35,000), two SonoruS ATR10 tape…
With the debut of the futuristic Hyphn loudspeakers ($95,000/pair), Monitor Audio and Chicago’s Saturday Audio Exchange made an unmissable statement.
The main system included a McIntosh MDA200 DAC ($4000) feeding a McIntosh C55 preamplifier ($9000), which in turn drove MC1.25KW monoblocks ($13,500 each). An AudioQuest Niagara 5000 power conditioner ($5900) scrubbed the signal.
Monitor’s Hyphn looks more like a Kubrickian sci-fi art object than a traditional loudspeaker. Twin vertical columns curve like the legs of a praying mantis, joined across the upper midsection by what appears…
February 2025 marked the release of a new recording of my compositions: Fillmore Street/Little Woodstar. This is the sixth album of my music. My first solo outing as a composer—Steel Chords i-5, on AudioQuest Music—was in 1993.
I am part of a small music demographic that I described in 1998, in an article in Positive Feedback, as "high-end composer." Another applicable term might be "audiophile composer." There are others who work this way, but not many. Few musicians are as interested as I am in the recording and reproduction of their music. I like to hear the sausage getting made.
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Tom Vu founded TriangleArt in 1999, and he’s not about to let up now.
Vu showed three turntables at AXPONA. The Master Reference ($39,000) and Maestro ($9000) were each paired with Osiris MK2 Diamond 12" tonearms ($9000) and Apollo MC cartridges ($7999). The Hathor ($4000) featured a Horus 12″ tonearm ($4400) and a Zeus MC cartridge ($4800).
Amplification came from the TriangleArt P200 dual-mono phono stage ($18,000) and the $12,500 I-20 integrated amplifier—a tubed, single-ended, dual-mono design. That able combo drove the horn-loaded TriangleArt Metis loudspeakers ($60,000…
Tony Santos of Stereo Haven and Mike Pranka of Toffco brought a Well Tempered Lab turntable—a common sight in rooms with standout analog sound. In Room 624, the Well Tempered Lab Amadeus, for which Pranka serves as US distributor, delivered a sense of musical ease and warmth.
The Stereo Haven rig was built around the Amadeus 254 GT turntable ($8750)—a next-generation model from Well Tempered—fitted with a Dynavector DRT XV-1t cartridge ($9750). The system used a Jadis JP80 preamplifier with built-in phono stage ($25,900), paired with the Sugden Sapphire FBA-800 power amplifier ($…
Sierra Sound’s Michael Fajen assembled a system that stopped more than a few showgoers in their tracks—built around not one but two turntables.
Turntable one featured Benz Micro Ruby Z and ACE Mono cartridges ($4000 and $1000 respectively) mounted on a ViV Laboratory Rigid Float HA-9″ tonearm ($4500), which was installed on an AMG Giro MK II Wood turntable with an AMG 9WT tonearm ($17,500). A Sierra Sound NAB-1 tonearm platform ($500) supported the assembly.
Turntable two featured the Connected Fidelity **TT Hub**, paired with a Sorane TA-1 tonearm and a Benz Micro…